


RWBY Scout Series: A Strength Realized

by LightningDragon



Series: RWBY Scout Series [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24237205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningDragon/pseuds/LightningDragon
Summary: I wanted to take a more personal look at the motivations of the characters and the quiet moments in the hectic lives of Team RWBY. Today we find Weiss Schnee keeping watch over an abandoned village. Enjoy!
Series: RWBY Scout Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745395
Kudos: 4





	RWBY Scout Series: A Strength Realized

Now her turn to take watch, Weiss had a bit of a different strategy over freezing on the roof. The top floor of this abandoned home, or what was left of it, had enough views of the surrounding area to be a good lookout spot, in addition to being a bit warmer than the frigid roof. One half of this room had long since collapsed, but the other half of this study seemed sturdy enough. Besides, it’s not like Myrtenaster had a long range scope.

She took a long look at the cold expanse. They really chose the only remaining upright building, didn’t they? All around her was ruins, tundra, and silence. This village must really have been hammered by bandits. Or grimm. Likely both. So far, no threats had revealed themself. That left Weiss little to do but look upon the results of her father’s company. When Ironwood had told them they were scouting this village, she recognized it among a list. A list of towns the Schnee Dust Company had set up operations. After the fall of this town’s vibrant community, father had taken it upon himself to set up camp in these dangerous areas and use his superior technology to extract every bit of dust around. No need to care for the faunus who worked here under terrible and dangerous conditions. No care for the need for protection from the very same problems that doomed this town in the first place. Like so many other places, this town had fallen once, but no matter the cost, father would make sure it wouldn’t fall again until every dollar was made.

She looked out again. This time at the cold expanse just outside of town. Where the mine entrance opened up. Long shuttered after the work was done, now all the signified the reason anyone risked living out here was a mound of rocks, ice, and dirt, with a nice little sign saying “KEEP OUT”. Weiss wasn’t ignorant of the abuses committed here. The history of this place, how her family was directly responsible for a significant part of the story of ruin and despair this destroyed village conveyed.

In different times, back in Beacon, she had talked about why she wanted to be a huntress. Father would not be the last of the Schnee name. She was determined to become a huntress not only to bring the Schnee name into the light, but to show the world what it truly meant to be a Schnee. She was so determined to make a difference in the world she didn’t consider for a moment whether or not she could. Those months before Beacon, training to be the best of the best, she never once stopped to consider if she was worthy enough. Then she got to Beacon. Time after time, when team RWBY went out to fight, whether it was against the forces of evil, fellow classmates, or even grimm, Weiss found that her earned confidence from training in Atlas did her no favors. Ruby and Yang were from rural Patch, growing up fighting grimm making them strong. Blake needed no explanation, growing up in the White Fang.

While all of her friends and teammates came from backgrounds that necessitated fighting to survive, Weiss grew up a singer. When Blake fought injustices, when Ruby and Yang fought monsters, Weiss had everything handed to her on a single platter. Sure, Weiss had obstacles to overcome. Without her quick thinking and well timed strikes, she would not have defeated that knight that gave her the scar on her eye. But her difficulties paled in comparison to pretty much everyone around her at Beacon, making her a weaker fighter as a result.

She looked back at the abandoned mine. At the cold expanse. The ruins of what her family was apart of. Weiss may not be driven by a need to survive, but instead a need for change. More than almost anyone else in their group, with maybe the exception of Blake, Weiss was driven to make a positive change in this world, especially here in Solitas.

“This will never happen again.”

Weiss said these five words with a sort of finality in them that conveyed a promise. With no one but the cold dead expanse of this abandoned village to listen, it would be all up to her to keep it. Sure, she may not be the best at winning every fight one on one, but that is what the team environment was for. RWBY made her whole, more than she realized at first. It’s why she left the luxury of Atlas, both times. The first time, she left Atlas mainly to escape the clutches of her family. She left the oppressiveness of Atlas to become part of a whole. To find a place where she could start making a positive difference. The second time, after the Fall of Beacon, she left not to escape (though that definitely played into it), but instead to join up into something. No longer would she run, no longer would she let the world decide what was best for her. Instead, with team RWBY at her side, she would help make Remnant a better place, one fight at a time.

The village was still quiet. Too quiet. Ruby had reported isolated grimm around, and while she appreciated the lack of stress a grimm encounter caused, the apparent lack of any sign of life unnerved the former heiress. She went downstairs, making sure not wake the group, and decided to take a quick patrol around the block. She walked down the broken avenues of this town. Past rubble and ruin, she still found no signs of life. All she saw was the same broken story. It unnerved her even more.

Weiss was now a few blocks away from the house, maybe too far. It was time to go back. The grimm must have moved on. Besides, her job was to keep watch on the building, not look for fight. The moon was full tonight, with none of the destroyed pieces visible. It was almost funny now, remembering the stories growing up about how the moon broke up. With the truth revealed by Jinn, the theories of magic space events and curses brought upon Remnant seemed childish. It was sad really. The truth always was, wasn’t it? The reason the moon broke was the destruction of the relationship between magic and humans. Like her own familial relationships, from afar, one could discern the Schnee family was a tight knit unit. But upon further discernment, you found a broken relationship. She blocked out that memory. She didn’t need to relive her childhood for this. Besides, she had a new family. Not only one that valued her as a member of the team, but one founded on the drive to do right, instead of wrong.

She heard a growl behind her. She must have been distracted with the moon. Suddenly, not a block from the house, a beowulf showed itself. No matter, she had dispatch many before. She leapt into action, striking the beast down. But what she didn’t see was another beast, now directly blocking her path back to the house. How it sneaked through unnoticed was beyond her. Another beowulf was not a concern anyhow, she concluded. She attacked once again but this time was parried. She struck again, and this time the beast reacted in time to not only block her parry, but hit her back a bit.  
She got back up, flabbergasted at how this beast was able to be her equal. All this time, all this effort, and this one small beast couldn’t be taken down? What a fool she was to think she was an equal of team RWBY. So many stories of loss, sacrifice, and hardship. Why would an heiress with all the money in the world and all the resources to help herself fit in. She couldn’t take down one small beast, but she was apparently worthy to be a member of a top huntress squad at beacon.

She looked again at the grimm. It wasn’t making much noise. In fact, it almost seemed like it was deliberately trying to stay quiet, despite the fact that it could howl for help. Heck, it just saw one it’s buddies taken down with ease, but no anger from this beast? No call for help? No rage that would wake both Team RWBY and the pack likely nearby? She looked into the eyes of this beast. It looked directly back at her. Those black eyes. Full of nothing but fear and sadness. This couldn’t be an ordinary beast.

“Salem?”

The beast didn’t respond, not that it really could. It sat in front of her, ready to defend itself, but not making the first move. This beast was way more intelligent than it should be. Weiss thought back to her learning at Beacon. Then it hit her. This wasn’t some magic foe. Despite all that had happened on her journey, there were some things that stayed the same. This was just an older, more experienced grimm, she remembered. Recalling her learning at Beacon, she remembered that older grimm were smarter at surviving, smarter at how to fight. Weiss spun Myrtenaster. She loaded up the red dust, and struck again. Now her rage would show. This wasn’t about her family, this wasn’t about Salem and her forces of evil, this wasn’t even about Team RWBY, who she would protect no matter what. This was solely about her, her motivations, and her drive. No one would question this. No, this road ahead wouldn’t be easy, but Weiss would win the day not out of a will to survive, but instead a drive to change.  
The beast may have been intelligent enough to block a strike, but it was no match for a fully realized huntress. Weiss fired a line of red dust with enough rage to shake the village, taking down not only the beowulf, but a mound or rubble behind it.   
This was what Weiss truly was, what she was capable of. She didn’t have the hope and meticulous leadership of Ruby. She didn’t come close to the suffering and drive for justice Blake had, no matter how much she tried to understand and emphasize with the plight of the faunus. And Yang could outpunch Weiss any day. Instead, Weiss brought something different to the table, something more human. She brought a simple drive of determination. One where she was not necessarily righting the wrongs against the oppressed (though that played into it for sure thanks to Blake), but righting the wrongs of a family. She said before that Jacques would not be the end of the Schnee family name, and she had a promise to keep on it. The beast fell, and while this might be a small and insignificant victory in the career of huntress Weiss Schnee, it was one of her biggest moral victories to date.

Weiss came back to the house. Thankfully, no one was awakened by her encounter with the grimm. No need to get worked up when you can handle something yourself. Weiss went back to the room she started her overwatch. She once again looked out at the cold, empty expanse of the tundra night.

The moon was a brilliant full circle. It lit up the darkness in the way only the moon could. Looking around at the cold tundra, Weiss once again saw the ruin and destruction her family was apart of. But she saw it in a new, different light. She vowed this would never happen again, a promise she had made before. But now, she felt she could truly make a difference in trying to keep that promise. With team RWBY by her side, they could take down evils, not only from Salem and her goons.

She looked back at the room. On the wall she noticed the pickax the father of this family used to mine. She took it down, taking a look at it. It had been years since this tool had been used, and it showed. Still, if it wasn’t so heavy, Weiss might have wanted to take it as a souvenir. She went to the rusted silver pickax on the wall when she saw a small engraving just above the hilt of the tool. It read, “To my beloved, for my beloved”. This must have been a gift of some kind from someone important to him. While she didn’t have an engraved pickax to show her appreciation of all that team RWBY had given her, she did have something better. A drive for change. A strength that could help others in their quest for good. A strength realized.


End file.
